Nozzle for suction cleaners



NOZZLE FOR SUCTION CLEANERS Filed Nov.. l5, 1954 NoZZLE FoR SUCTIoNCLEANERS Roland H. Gardner, North Canton, Ohio, assigner to The HooverCompany, North Canton, Ohio, a corporation of' Ohio Application November15, 1954, Serial No. 468,591

1 Claim. (Cl. 15-398) The present invention relates to suction cleanersand more particularly to a suction nozzle designed to be attached to theend of a suction hose and designed especially for cleaning upholsteryfabrics but also adapted for other uses. l

A suction nozzle is usually, or may be, provided with front and rearnozzle lips lying in a surface contacting plane and with a brush orother litter picker located either exteriorly or interiorly of thenozzle mouth usually at the rear and projecting downwardly from theplane of the lips so as to engage the surface of the nap being cleanedto loosen hairs, lint or other litter so that it may be picked up by theair stream flowing across the nozzle lips.

According to the present invention the rear nozzle lip is replaced by alitter picker strip so that the strip forms the rear nozzle lip itselfWhile retaining its litter picking ability.

The picker strip of the present invention is molded from flexiblethermoplastic material in the form of a backing rib having a pluralityof rows of comparatively long lingers extending from one edge thereof.The rib is secured to the body of the nozzle in any suitable manner sothat the ends of the fingers extend downwardly to the plane of the lowerface of the nozzle mouth to form the rear nozzle lip and to support therear of the nozzle when the latter is in use.

The rows of fingers are staggered so that individual lingers overlapeach other along the length of the nozzle and form a substantial sealfor the rear of the nozzle mouth. The individual fingers may be fiexedwhen used to iiick up or loosen litter and permit the passage of airbetween the lingers so that the loosened litter may be drawn into thenozzle along with air being drawn past the nozzle lips.

A picker strip in addition to retaining its litter picking ability formsthe entire rear nozzle lip including its nozzle supporting and sealingfunction.

The present invention is not limited to any particular number of rows offingers so long as the lingers are staggered so as to overlap. Accordingto the disclosure the fingers are two deep across the edge of the stripbut are staggered so as to have the appearance of four rows. It is to beunderstood that the fingers could be one deep so long as the edges ofthe adjacent fingers overlap slightly.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become.apparent as the description proceeds when taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a bottom perspective view of the nozzle of the presentinvention showing how the litter picker strip is applied thereto andFig. 2 is an enlarged bottom view of the litter picker strip of thepresent invention showing how the pick- 2,807,825 lPatented Oct. l, 1Q57ing fingers are overlapped and staggered with relation to each other.

Referring to the` drawings the reference numeral V10 generallyrepresents the nozzle of the present invention and the reference numeral11 generally represents the litter picker strip.

-The nozzle includes a fitting 12 adapted to be attached to the suctionhose of a suction cleaner and communicates with the mouth 13. Thesuction mouth 13 is formed by a front nozzle lip 14, end lips 15 and thepicker strip 11 which forms the rear nozzle lip, the material of thenozzle mouth being cut away at 16 to provide a space into which thestrip is inserted.

The picker strip 11 is molded from an elastic thermoplastic material andincludes a backing rib 20 and a plurality of picking fingers 21extending from one edge thereof. The fingers 21 are arranged two deepacross the face of the strip but are staggered so as to have theappearance of forming four rows as shown in Fig. 2 with the individualfingers overlapping to some extent whereby the strip, as a whole, willform the rear nozzle lip While the individual fingers Will retain theirability to iiex and loosen lint, hairs and other litter which is drawninto the nozzle mouth 13 as the nozzle 10 is moved over a surface, forexample, over the nap of upholstery, etc.

The lingers when unliexed will form a substantial seal at the rear ofthe nozzle but may be flexed to loosen litter and permit air to flowbetween individual fingers so that the litter will be readily drawn intothe nozzle mouth 13 by air flowing across its surface contacting face.

The strip 11 may be attached to the rear wall of the suction mouth inany suitable manner such as by the rivets 22.

While the fingers 2l have been shown as two deep and having theappearance of forming four rows, it is to be understood that the onlyrequirement is that the individual fingers overlap and yet remaincapable of being flexed so as to retain their litter picking ability.

While I have shown and described but a single ernbodiment of myinvention it is to be understood that that embodiment is to be taken asillustrative only and not in a limiting sense. I do not wish to belimited to the particular structure shown and described but wish toinclude all equivalent variations thereof except as limited by the scopeof the claim.

I claim:

A suction nozzle including a body; said body being formed with a fittingadapted to be attached to a suction hose, with a downwardly facingsuction mouth and with an air passage between said fitting and saidmouth; said mouth including a front nozzle lip extending across thefront of said body and with end lips extending rearwardly along the endsof said body from the ends of said front nozzle lip and extendingdownwardly to the plane of the lower edge of said front nozzle lip; saidbody being formed with a cut-away portion extending between the rearends of said end nozzle lips; and a picker strip formed of iiexiblematerial extending across said cut-away portion between the rear ends ofsaid end nozzle lips and forming the rear lip of said nozzle; saidpicker strip including a backing rib secured to said body above saidcut-away portion and a plurality of downwardly extending closelyarranged overlapping staggered fingers which extend downwardly to theplane of said front and end nozzle lips; said fingers being so closelyarranged and said strip being so secured to said body that said stripforms a seal across the entire rear side of said nozzle and said fingersbeing sufficiently stiff to form the rear support for said nozzle yetsufiiciently tiexible to flex when said nozzle is moved across a surq l)face to be cleaned to loosen dirt and litter from said surface. y 42,021

. 487,88 References Cited in the le Vof thrs patent 505,9; UN1TED STATESPATENTS 5 668,835

2,275,357 Gaines Mar. 3, 1942 2,717,409 Draudt Sept. 13, 1955 4 FOREIGNPATENTS Denmark Apr. 14, 1930 Great Britain June 28, 1938 Great BritainMay 19, 1939 Germany Dec. 10, 1938

